During the optional 3D Modeling II course, we will teach students everything they need to develop a solid foundation (both technical and artistic) that will allow them to confidently create high-level 3D characters, assets, and environments within a demanding professional pipeline. While not neglecting the artistic aspect, special attention will be given to all the technical and organizational aspects involved in managing a professional-level project.
Solid knowledge of character and asset modeling with any 3D app.
This course focuses on deepening students' knowledge of character, asset, prop, and environment modeling, both interior and exterior, within a high-level CG pipeline.
Students will have had an introduction to modeling in previous courses. This acquired knowledge will be used not only to create better models but also to tell a story and emphasize storytelling, which supports the emotions of the character and the environment surrounding them.
In addition to mastering the technical aspects of modeling and its pipeline, students will practice and develop the artistic skills necessary to become professional CGI artists, prepared to enter the industry.
By the end of the course, students will be fully equipped to work on a professional project, adapting well to the technical and artistic complexities of a scene with a character and environment that professionally tell a story.
1. Introduction to the world of USD, Houdini, and Solaris, as opposed to older Maya-based methods for generating scenes.
2. How to generate and publish assets in Houdini/Solaris, both with Component Builder and by starting from scratch and creating your own node structures.
3. Creating interior and exterior scenes using powerful node tools like Stage Manager. The Stage Manager in Houdini Solaris is a fundamental Light Operator (LOP) node for designing, organizing, and assembling USD scenes. It allows you to import, rename, group, and visually transform assets, facilitating the creation of complex hierarchies and the management of asset variations during scene creation.
4. Fundamentals of procedural modeling with Houdini/Solaris. Procedural modeling in Houdini/Solaris represents the evolution of the SideFX workflow, combining the power of Houdini's node-based geometry generation with the USD (Universal Scene Description) industry standard for scene structuring, lighting, and rendering. 5. Scattering Techniques in Houdini/Solaris. Scattering (the dispersion or distribution of objects) in Houdini Solaris is fundamental for creating complex environments, leveraging the USD (Universal Scene Description) framework to efficiently handle millions of instances. Unlike the classic approach using SOPs, Solaris utilizes LOPs (Lighting Operators) nodes that allow for scattering objects, managing variations, and rendering directly with Karma or third-party engines in a non-destructive manner.
6. Creating digital doubles using non-destructive workflow techniques in Houdini, capable of generating topology and UV transfers. Topology transfer (or "topo transfer") in Houdini is the process of deforming a base mesh with a clean topology (e.g., quads) to fit the shape and volume of a target geometry (3D scan, messy sculpture, etc.). With Houdini Solaris (a USD-based LOPs environment), this workflow is integrated into a procedural production pipeline, allowing you to prepare the geometry for final rendering. UV transfer in Houdini Solaris (USD/LOPS) focuses on manipulating USD attributes (st or uv) to map two-dimensional textures onto three-dimensional geometries. Solaris allows you to both transfer existing UVs and project new coordinates procedurally.
7. Creating hyper-realistic landscapes, height fields, and biomes. Height fields in Houdini are a specialized tool for the procedural creation and manipulation of large-scale terrains and landscapes. Unlike traditional polygonal geometry, Height Fields are based on 2D volumes (voxels), making them extremely efficient, fast to process, and capable of handling very high resolutions without slowing down the system. The Biomes system in Houdini, particularly when used within Solaris (LOPs), is a modern workflow developed by SideFX Labs for procedurally creating complex, dense, and realistic environments. This tool allows you to define specific rules for the distribution of vegetation, rocks, and other elements across a terrain (Heightfield), facilitating the management of multiple ecosystems in a single scene.
Use of AI tools: AI tools can be very useful in assisting us with the activities proposed in this course, provided they are used responsibly and in compliance with specific regulations.
In order to assess whether students have achieved an adequate level of understanding of the course objectives, various continuous assessment activities are used, approximately weekly.
Objectives of continuous assessment:
- The main objective is to help students keep up with the coursework and develop effective work methods. We aim for students to progressively assimilate the material and achieve good academic results.
- Another important objective is to value the work students do on a daily basis, without their grade depending solely on the practical exercises.
- For the instructor, it provides more information about the work done by students and a better understanding of them, both academically and personally.
There are four exercises in continuous assessment mode; the sum of these exercises will be subject to a correction factor based on the student's progress and behavior during the course.
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I. Bibliography (Books and Academic/Technical Resources)
Parn, E. A., Sacks, R., Brilakis, I., et al. (2025). Twin Systems: Digital Twins of the Built Environment. Amazon. (Focus on creating digital twins of infrastructure and built environments).
Oreni, D., Banfi, F., & Mezzino, D. (2024). Digital Twins and Extended Reality: Opportunities and Challenges of Integrated Applications. MDPI. (Details BIM/3D scanning and interoperability for complex environments).
SideFX Houdini Documentation. "Solaris/USD (LOPS)". (Essential official technical resource for understanding the LOPs, USD, and Karma flow).
Springer Nature. (2024). The Digital Twin of Humans: An Interdisciplinary Concept of Digital Working Environments.
II. Webography (Courses, Tutorials, and Online Resources)
1. Official Documentation and SideFX Courses
SideFX Tutorials - Solaris/USD: Official website with "Solaris in Houdini 21" sessions focused on Component Builder, variants, and Megascans.
Procedural Environments in Houdini 20.5+: Complete series of tutorials on the SideFX website covering Heightfields through Solaris/Karma.
Houdini Procedural Modeling: Procedural modeling resources for generating production-ready assets.
2. YouTube and Specialized Resources
Procedural Environment Assets in Houdini 21 (YouTube): Tutorials on primitive manipulation, transformations, and procedural simulation.
Crater Studio - FX workflows in Solaris/USD (FMX HIVE 2025): Technical talk on managing RBD (destruction) simulations in Solaris.
80.lv - "Learn How to Make a Procedural Building Generator in Houdini": A detailed guide to creating procedural building generators.
III. Key Topics in the Bibliography
USD (Universal Scene Description): The foundation of Solaris, used to structure scenes, layers, and overrides.
LOPS (Light Operators): Nodes in Solaris similar to SOPs for layout, lighting, and rendering.
Digital Twins: Converting point clouds (scans) and BIM into efficient geometries with Houdini.
Proceduralism: Using Heightfields and HDA generators for vegetation and architecture.
Karma XPU: Next-generation rendering for scenes in Solaris.
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